Lessons From Dalton, or "I Can Do Anything", Given the Chance

Only dead fish follow the stream.  - Finnish saying

When I went into education, my aspiration was not be a "good" teacher.  My aspiration was not to be a superintendent (it still isn't).  My aspiration was to be the best teacher ever to the students who came to me.  Maybe that had something to do with the fact that I came to education later in life ().  And here's the deal:  I haven't lost that passion for learning or education.  Not one tiny bit.

That passion weaves its way into various parts of my professional life, now.  I still spend hours learning new things in curriculum and instruction.  (Why, you ask?  Because I want to. It's important for me to keep up with current educational research.  It helps me to help my son at home, for instance.)  I subscribe to various e-newsletters and blogs, journals and other publications.  I'm constantly buying books on education.  I serve on the Minnesota Educators of the Gifted and Talented.  I'm a teacher, through and through.  I miss my students.  (I keep in touch.  I just got a Facebook post from a former student that totally made my day, thanks, Steve!)  It's kind of like this:  I'm not in a choir anymore, but that doesn't stop me from singing, or working to make my voice better.  I sing. I teach.

What I don't do is categorize humans.  I read an article recently (and by "recently" I mean today) about talk in Illinois that Chicago should become the 51st state.  The author of the article talked about the "horrific crime" in Chicago.  And the comments from the readers were worse.  Why are people spending so much time promoting stereotypes?  I lived in Chicago before moving here to Minnesota.  Believe me, folks, there's not a lot of difference outside of the fact that the snow is much heavier in Chicago than it it is here, the tulips come up earlier, and I can find more restaurants.  I can't even complain now, because we have an outdoor baseball stadium...although going to Wrigley Field is something everyone has to do in their life. 

I hear talk all the time about "good parents" and "those parents".  I read comments about "kids who can't", and about demographics going in the wrong direction.  Seriously, what does that even mean??  What direction is "the wrong direction" for demographics?  We're getting too.... what?  Robbinsdale Area Schools are different than they were even ten years ago.  America has always had changing demographics.  Waves of immigrants came to our shores throughout our country's history.  And that's on top of the people we already had here - our American Indian population whom, for one thing,  we can thank for specific ideas found in our form of government; and the African American population that we forced here, who gave us tremendous music and fabulous writers and inventors, among other things.  The continual shift in people brought wonderful things to us that we don't even think about nowadays, like great St. Patrick's Day parades and strawberry fields in California. 

Rather than perpetuate stereotypes, why not embrace the reality that ALL of our students can... they can do anything, learn anything, become anything.  When I was in one of my courses on gifted education a couple of years ago, the professor showed this video that I, in turn, showed to my staff in a professional development session and, in turn, this district showed to its staff during workshop week.  A fifth grade boy says it best (see attached video). I hope you fall in  love with Dalton like I did in this video.

If education remained stagnant, we wouldn't grow.  We wouldn't learn new things.  We have to change with the changing times.  The more we learn, the more we need to learn.  I am excited about the new initiatives, the new changes, the direction, in Robbinsdale Area Schools.  We don't have demographics "going the wrong way".  We have students who come to our schools every single day who can do anything, learn anything, become anything.  I, for one, do not wish for my students, my colleagues, my families or this district, to simply "follow the stream."